The Joshua Victor Theory

Sermon Outline: ·          Week 3 of Reformation series—“Scripture alone”. Week 1 & 2, faith alone and grace alone—show that we are saved by faith in Jesus to the exclusion of our works, and by God’s grace, to the exclusion of our having merited or deserved it. Pastor Roschke made the excellent point that these truths stand “altogether”—that is that grace, faith, scripture, and Christ stand together. Clarifies that “alone” here does not mean “in isolation from everything else”. For example, you could say “Jenny is alone in the room”; or you could say “In our class, Jenny alone passed the test.” In the second case, it doesn’t mean that Jenny is by herself, but that the others didn’t pass. ·          Think about what this means when we say “Scripture alone.” Are we saying that we should not read or study or learn from any other book than the Bible? If so, then you shouldn’t even be listening to me pre...

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. “The time is coming…” the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, a young pastor. “The time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” Well it shouldn’t take much convincing for us to realize that that time is now here. We already live in the time Paul described, where people will not listen to or tolerate sound teaching, but gather around them teachers that will say what their itching ears want to hear. Today Paul’s words to Timothy call us to make sure we are listening to the God-breathed Word of holy Scripture, which is vital for our spiritual health today. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. So are we really living in “those times” when people won’t listen to sound teaching,...